Carmel Robinson

A 31-year-old man remains in a ‘critical’ condition after a shooting in the early hours of this morning in Craigavon.

It is understood the man was in the front living room of his home in Carrigart Crescent when a torrent of shots were fired through the window.

Around 20 shots are thought to have been fired.

Chief Inspector Jon Burrows explained: “At approximately 1:45am, police received a report that a number of shots had been fired through the living room window of a house in the Carrigart Crescent area.

“A 31-year-old male who was in the house was taken to hospital for treatment for injuries which are described as life threatening at this stage.

“There was no-one else in the house at the time.”

Front window of house in Carrigart Crescent is riddled with gunshots

Police are investigating a possible link to a silver Skoda car which was seen acting suspiciously in the Carrigart area before the shooting.

Car burned out at the Newline in Craigavon

“There is no excuse or reason for anyone to be carrying or using weapons. It is long past time that criminal and paramilitary activity ended for good, and that no community in Northern Ireland has to live in fear of the law of the gun.

“I would ask anyone who saw anything suspicious in the Carrigart area of Craigavon in the early hours of Monday morning to contact the police immediately and to help them remove a dangerous criminal gang from our midst.”

Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd said the shooting was ‘wrong and I condemn it’.

“The community as a whole will be shocked and concerned that guns have been brought on the streets.

“I would encourage anyone with information on this incident to contact the PSNI.”

Sinn Fein Cllr Liam Mackle said: “The wreckless firing of automatic weapons and the shooting of a man last night in Carrigart Crescent is something the people of Lurgan and Craigavon can do without. The development has a lot of young families and I can only imagine the terror of children wakened during the night by gunfire.

“I hope the victim of this appalling act makes a complete recovery and I would appeal to anyone with information to bring it to the PSNI. Dangerous criminals that will carry out acts like this need locked up for a long time.”

SDLP Upper Bann Candidate Dolores Kelly said: “This shooting comes just days after a similar attack on a house in Banbridge last week in which another man was hospitalised. The re-emergence of such horrific violence on our streets is a deeply troubling development and the people of the area are rightly outraged.

“The thoughts of everyone are now with the young man fighting for his life after this atrocity and with his family and friends who must be suffering greatly at this time.

“There is no place for the violence in this community. Those committing these unspeakable acts can only ever be brought to justice if people work with the PSNI to get them off our streets.”